therapy begun on the basis of a clinical educated guess in the absence of complete or perfect information.

how would you differ in your approach from a dog that has gotten its first UTI, versus a dog which has had recurring UTIs?

on the first time dog, it is ok to use abx empirically without a C&S. However, if there is recurring episodes, you NEED to do a C&S

So a dog comes in with some nasty infection and you want to be a good vet and do C&S...but you are concerned that this infection is really bad and you're worried about leaving it until the results come back. What do?

you can empirically use abx while you are WAITING for the C&S, and then can switch over to something else if the C&S tell you otherwise

what are Difficult organisms to culture which might merit using empirical use of abx if you don't think you'll get anything back?

Ehrlichia, Borrelia, hemoplasmas, Bartonella, mycoplasmas

If there is a critically ill patient, do you want to do C&S?

YES! you just start tx empirically and then if the C&S prompts, change course after results